It's been a long time since I've been at a table where someone was just trying to gift wrap their chips for me $200 at a time.
Last night, depressed about my lack of NYE options, I went to the Edgewater casino in Vancouver for some poker. Their poker room is separate from their main casino (which, frankly, is not very nice), and their seating system is very bizarre. Call-ins get first priority. (They also have NO ALCOHOL in poker room!) However, after about 30 minutes of waiting, I got a seat at a new table. Max buy was $200, which I actually generally like as I have found it encourages action. (Side note: I have found that my biggest hits at 1/2 have come at places with <$300 max, MGM in Vegas, Foxwoods back in the day, Florida...it just turns people into shove monkeys and that is a good thing.)
The first orbit at this table, my mind was blown. I have not seen such terrible poker playing in MONTHS...maybe not even all year. Several people at the table were ATC shove monkeys, and the other ones were WAY too tight. There was only one guy at the table I knew I had to be wary of. In AC, or even in Vegas, there are certainly people who play badly, but it's not usually the whole table making moves like calling with Q-high no draw for their stack (Yes, I did see that at this table).
I ended up in the ten seat, and the guy in the one seat was bullying the tighter players. More power to him, but he should have known better than to bully when some of the shove monkeys were in the hand. Twice in the first two orbits he made a giant bet on the river and then mucked without even showing after he was called. The one time he had the nuts, he bet much smaller on the river.
After about 30 minutes at the table, I got dealt QTcc on the button. There had been a standard pf raise by the one seat bully to $10, which was called in NINE spots (also standard at this gift of a table). I decided I might as well jump in with odds like those.
Flop came Q62, rainbow (one club). Bully guy bet out $15 into $90 and everyone folded except one of the rocks immediately to my right and me. We both flatted. Turn brought the 5c. Hmmmmmm... Bully bet out $25. Tight guy flatted. I raised to isolate...I wanted rocky guy to fold. Bully just called my raise, and tight guy did the speech muck. YES!
River came 3h. One seat immediately bet out $100, which was the vast majority of my remaining stack. I thought for a minute. Did he have a four? Possible but not likely. He had been seriously under-betting when he was strong. Every time I had seen him make a big bet on river, it was a bluff. He had either a busted draw or some small pair. Plus, I had basically folded every hand I got for the first 30 minutes, so I figured I was a prime target for push around the nit.
After my 30-second analysis, I called. He turned over 76o. Wooohoooooo! I was sitting on a little over $400 at that point. In the next orbit, I managed to snap him off again, with a similarly average hand, and that time when I raised on the river he just instamucked.
Shortly thereafter, he went bust and did not rebuy again. I was sitting on $600, and looked around the table. Suddenly we were 6 handed, with me and a bunch of old nits all sitting on $100 or less. I had only been playing for an hour, and decided to get up.
While happy with my profit, I found something not very satisfying in taking that money. It really was like shooting fish in a barrel. Too easy. :p
Dunno if I'm headed back there tonight. Still two days left in Vancouver.
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